Volume I, Treatise V, Chapter XV

How We Are to Understand, that in Prayer We Must Take to Heart Those Things We Stand Most in Need Of, and Insist on Them Till We Have Obtained Them

I po not mean that in prayer we must always apply ourselves to one thing only; because, though humility, for example, or any other virtue, be the most necessary for us, yet we may always in prayer exercise ourselves in any other virtues, and in forming or making acts of them. You are moved to make an act of conformity to the will of God, in whatsoever he shall please to ordain in your regard. Stop there as long as you can, and all the time you shall spend in it will be well spent; and your prayer made in this manner will be so good, and be so far from diverting you from sentiments of humility, that it will even more and more excite you to them. You are moved to a grateful acknowledgment of all the benefits God has bestowed upon you, as well in general as in particular. Stop there as long as you are able, since it 1s just to thank God daily for all the favours you have received from him, and principally for that, which he bestowed upon you when he called you to religion. You are moved to a horror of your sins, and compunction for them, and to make a firm resolution rather to die a thousand times than offend God; dwell a good while on this; you cannot produce an act more profitable, and more conducive to your salvation. You are moved to a greater love of God, to a fervent zeal for the salvation of souls, and an ardent desire for this purpose to expose yourself to all sorts of labours and sufferings, Repose and rest herein; and, if you will, you may apply yourself, moreover, to beg the grace of God, as well for yourself as for your neighbour, and for the whole Church in general; for this is one of the principal points of prayer; and, by dwelling either on these, or those before mentioned, or any others of the same nature, you may make a very good and profitable prayer. Let us also take notice of the Psalms, which are a most perfect prayer, how they are replenished with an infinity of different affectionate acts; and it is this that made Cassian say, that prayer is like a field enamelled with a thousand different odoriferous flowers; a simile Isaac made use of when he said—“The smell of my son is like the smell of a fertile field, that our Lord has blessed.” (Genesis 27:27) But there is also an advantage in this variety; which is, that it ordinarily helps to make prayer more easy and pleasant unto us, and consequently makes us persevere a longer time in it. For as frequent repetition of the same thing is wont to create tediousness; so variety, on the other hand, renders what we are about more pleasant and delightful.

What I wish to say, then, is, that it is of great importance for our spiritual advancement, to take to heart, for some time, some one thing in particular; and it must be precisely what we find ourselves stand most in need of. And in prayer we must chiefly insist upon this, and beg it of God with fervour several times, several days, nay, even several months; making this our chief business, having it continually before our eyes, and lodging it in the very bottom of our hearts, till we come at last to obtain it. Even worldly affairs are performed after this manner; and, therefore, we ordinarily say, ‘God preserve us from the man that has but one affair.” St. Thomas, speaking of prayer, says, that the more the desire unites itself to one thing in particular, the more perfect and efficacious it is; and upon this subject, he recites the words of the Psalmist: ‘I desired one thing of our Lord, and I will not cease earnestly to beg it of him till I obtain it.’ (Psalms 26:4) Whoever wishes to distinguish himself in any art or science, begins not a thing one day, and another thing another, but he continues for some considerable time to make it his chief study, till he thoroughly understands what he undertook to learn. Whoever, therefore, wishes to acquire any virtue he stands in need of, must make it, in like manner, his chief business, aud direct his prayer and all his spiritual exercises to this end; and this the more perseveringly, as all moral virtues, according to the doctrine of the same saint, are so inseparably united one with another, that whoever perfectly possesses one of them possesses all the rest. Root out of your heart pride, and plant humility in its place. As soon as you shall be truly humble, you will be obedient, you will be patient, you will complain of nothing, you will think nothing hard; and though anything should happen to you, very difficult to be borne with, yet it will always seem to you very little, in comparison of what you deserve. As soon also as you shall be humble, you will be charitable towards your brothers, because you will believe them all to be good, and that there is none bad but yourself; you will have a great simplicity of heart, and you will judge ill of nobody, because you will have so great sorrow and confusion for your own defects, that you will not at all reflect upon those of your neighbour. And what we say at present of these particular virtues, may be in like manner extended to all others.

It is also very profitable to take for the subject of our particular examen, the same matter that we also take for the subject of our prayer; and to join prayer and examen together, because by this means all our exercises tending to the same end, we shall make a greater progress in virtue. But Cassian goes farther yet, and would have us not only insist in our prayer and examen, upon what we find most necessary for us, but would have us also elevate our minds to God several times in the day, by short and lively ejaculations, with sighs, and groans of our heart; and that to these we also add penances, mortifications, and other particular devotions for the obtaining what we desire. For since the greatest business we have is to increase in virtue, and to root out that vice which most of all predominates within us; and that bad inclination and propensity also, which carry us on, and cause us to fall into most grievous faults—and since by the overcoming and rooting out this vice, and the gaining this virtue, we overcome and root out all vices, and acquire all virtues: whatsoever attention we devote to it, and what pains soever we take upon this account, our care and efforts can never be better applied.

St. Chrysostom says, that prayer is like a fountain in the middle of a garden, without which all things would become dry and barren; and by means of which all things flourish and become fresh and pleasant. So that it is by prayer we must always keep the plauts, of obedience, humility, patience, mortification, silence, recollection, and all other virtues, in continual beauty and perfection. But as in a garden there is ordinarily one plant or flower that is cultivated with more care than all the rest, and for which we always find time and water sufficient, though we should want for the others; so in the spiritual garden of our souls, where all things must be refreshed with the wholesome water of prayer, there must always be something upon which we more particularly cast our eye, and for the cultivation of which we should always find leisure. I mean, we must take notice which is the virtue we want most, and apply ourselves more to attain that, than all the rest. Moreover, since it commonly happens, that before we go out of a garden we pluck one of those flowers that most of all pleases us; so in prayer, we must apply ourselves not only to what pleases us most, but what is most necessary for us, and endeavour to take it along with us when we go from our prayer.

What we have here said may be a sufficient answer to those who ask, whether the fruit we reap from prayer must be conformable to the matter upon which we meditate? We have already taken notice, that though we ought always chiefly to apply ourselves to © that which we find most necessary for us, yet we must exercise ourselves also in producing acts of other virtues, according to the point we have made choice of for our meditation. But in this there is one thing very essential to be observed, which is, that those affections which shall arise in us from the matter we meditate upon, must not be formed in haste and superficially; but though we should employ even the whole time of our prayer in them, yet we must make them at leisure, entertaining them in peace and tranquillity, till we feel our hearts very well filled and penetrated with them. For it is better without doubt to make and continue one sole act in this manner, than to produce many acts of different virtues in haste, and only, as I may say, take an imperfect sketch of them.

One of the things that most of all hinders some from deriving the advantage they ought is, that they slightly pass over all the acts they make. For they only touch the matter, and fly from one thing tov another. A thought occurs to them to make an act of humility, they make it, and as soon as they have done they go to another. If it be to their purpose afterwards to make an act of obedience, they do the same without dwelling any longer upon it, than upon the first—afterwards they make an act of patience, in which they spend no more time than in the former, and pass so quickly and lightly over all, that if they were running over burning coal they could not at all annoy themselves. Father Avila reprehends very severely those that thus go from one thing to another, and says, that in effect it proceeds from a deceit of the devil, who thus lays different matters before them, in order that like birds flying from one branch to another, they may not reap any considerable fruit from their prayer. It is therefore of great importance to dwell upon one thing, till the soul is filled and well penetrated with it. If you would, for example, make an act of contrition, and have a lively sorrow for your offences, you must persist so long in it, till, finding your soul seized with a horror of sin, you shall be able to say with the prophet, “I have hated iniquity, and had it in abomination.” (Psalms 118:163) For this will cause you to make a firm resolution, rather to die a thousand ‘deaths than mortally offend God. Wherefore, St. Austin very judiciously takes notice, that the horror which men have conceived of some certain sins, as parricide and such like, is the occasion that they very seldom fall into them. And on the contrary, there are other sins that the frequent habit of committing them has so taken away all fear or horror, and rendered them so small in appearance, that we permit ourselves to fall into them very easily. If you desire to exercise yourself in humility also, and to make acts of this virtue, you must entertain thoughts of self-contempt, till they have penetrated so to the bottom of your soul, that they chase from you all the smoke of vanity and pride; and that you feel yourself ready to suffer contempt and reproaches with joy. And what we say here of contrition and humility, may in like manner be said of all the virtues, and of all pious motions of the soul.

By this we may see how much the taking some one thing to heart, and the persevering therein, according to the manner aforesaid, conducetd spiritual advancement; because if we entertain ourselves an hour in the morning and another in the evening, with a desire of being contemned, or in any other pious sentiment of this nature, and should continue many days together to do the same, it is certain, that this would work a quite different effect in our hearts, and this virtue would be imprinted in it after a quite different manner, than by thinking upon it only now and then, as ifit were by chance, or only by a slight and passing thought. St. Chrysostom says, that though the soil be ever so good, yet to make it become fertile, it must be well watered with rain, and this not only once, but very often; so our souls, in like manner, must be watered by‘prayer, if we desire they should bring forth the fruit of justice and sanctity. And he cites upon this subject those words of David, “I have sung your praises seven times a day.” (Psalms 118:164) The Royal Prophet watered his soul seven times a-day by means of prayer; and the better to entertain himself in the same sentiments of devotion, he renewed it frequently in a short space of time. We see this in the hundred and thirty-fifth psalm, where he repeats twenty-seven times these words: “Because his mercy is for ever.” (Psalms 135:1) And in another psalm, which contains only five verses, he invites us to praise God no less than eleven times. This manner of praying, in which the same words are repeated over and over again, and the persevering a good while therein, was taught us

by our Saviour also in the Garden of Olives, where he returned to prayer three several times, “saying always the same words.” (Matthew 26:44) By this he teaches us to insist often in prayer upon the same thing, and always with a new fervour; for, if we Rersevere a long while in this manner, we shall at last obtain the virtue and perfection we desire.

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